SEGA'S VIDEO GAME ICON SONIC THE HEDGEHOG CELEBRATES HIS 15TH BIRTHDAY

World’s Fastest Video Game Character Shows No Sign of Slowing down As He Rockets Onto Next Generation Consoles

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO – June 23, 2006 – He’s fast, he’s blue, he’s sold over 44 million games, and he just turned 15… Today, SEGA joins millions of fans around the world in celebrating video game icon Sonic The Hedgehog’s fifteenth birthday—and ensuring his continuing success with three bold new upcoming games. Sonic, who was born June 23, 1991 as the fastest, most technologically advanced character for the SEGA Genesis console, continues to innovate as he prepares to blast onto next generation consoles and the Sony PlayStation® Portable system with groundbreaking new adventures. With his three stellar new games, Sonic The Hedgehog is ready to blaze his way to the top of the video game world once again.

In addition to his video game fame, Sonic has starred in two animated TV series, comic books, and an animated movie—he’s even got his own theme park, Joypolis, in Tokyo and scooped the ‘Gaming icon’ award from a leading national newspaper1 in the UK. But it’s his video games that matter most to his legions of fans. Sonic has starred in more than 30 video game adventures on virtually every well-known game platform, a distinction that earned him his star on the ‘Walk of Game’ landmark honouring pioneering gaming icons.

“Sonic has been hugely successful throughout Europe, he epitomises youthful, high speed fun coupled with addictive gameplay, and that’s why people love him!”” commented Mike Hayes, President and COO SEGA Europe Ltd. “Older gamers remember playing Sonic on their Sega Mega Drives and now 15 years on and moving on to the next generation of hardware, Sonic is still as popular as ever.”

About Sonic The Hedgehog
Currently celebrating his fifteenth anniversary, Sonic The Hedgehog is one of the most popular video game icons of all time with over 44 million games sold worldwide.
• Over 8,000 Sonic games are sold worldwide every day
• Gamers have collected over 66 billion rings while playing Sonic
• Gamers have spent over 500 million hours playing Sonic games

Fans will be treated throughout the year to special fifteenth anniversary events, culminating with the release of three original Sonic adventures shipping beginning later this year.

Sonic will make his first appearance on next generation consoles with the dynamic new adventure Sonic The Hedgehog for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this fall. Sonic The Hedgehog melds top-tier production values with next generation art, physics, and game design to create the most intense, fastest Sonic experience yet. Featuring interactive 3D environments, a large cast of new and returning characters, and a blistering sense of speed, the game takes Sonic’s blazing gameplay to the next level. Also this fall, Sonic will debut on the PSP™ with Sonic Rivals, a one-on-one racing platformer that combines classic 2D gameplay with 3D worlds. Sonic Wild Fire (working title, release date to be announced) is in development for the Nintendo Wii console, combining Sonic’s high velocity with the unique Wii controller, using the classic tale Arabian Nights as the backdrop.